life in the fast {busy} lane

 

While I’m catching up the blog and laundry load four is rumbling in the dryer…

The crazy kitchen days of last week transitioned into a Family Wedding Weekend in Wisconsin.  While I dream of the get-aways others describe… The quiet lake, a clean cabin, no phones, no computers, no schedules, and good food appearing like manna...  The fact remains that we just don’t live that way here.  Welcome to my world of reality…

Wednesday was Tim’s birthday.  Tim was able to come home for lunch (birthday dinner!), but he worked late into the evening getting equipment ready for the next phase of fall field work.  I took the kids to church ~ and thankfully stayed awake to drive us all home again  : )

Thursday ~ We were expecting Tim’s brother Neil (and crew!) to stop by on their way to Wisconsin.  Maybe about 4pm at the earliest.  Some of the crew would see our ‘new’ home for the first time, soooo we thought we’d try to make it more presentable with some thorough house cleaning.  Should I admit how bad it’s been here??  I honestly don’t remember the last time I had dusted our bedroom ~ At any rate, it was finally attended to!  {yay me!}  I took volunteers for the other vacuuming and dusting.  I also had an appointment for the Suburban to get serviced in town.  Thankfully, they loaned me a car after I learned it would take about 2 hours to accomplish the work!  I picked up a PILE of inter-library loan books from the Roland Library.  I cooked up some stew meat for soup for supper ~ along with some potato buns.  But I spent most of my time and energy getting the house ready for inspection!  About 5pm I finally got the message they wouldn’t arrive before 7:30pm {my cell phone was still on silent from Wed night church}  So the kids got a bit of school work done, we enjoyed our soup and buns ~ and had the kitchen cleaned up again ~ with cookies baked and more potato buns for all the hungry folk soon to arrive.  I think it was after 8pm before they got here.  The kids enjoyed the dog {Luci} and the rock piles {mostly boys, ya know} while most of the potato buns and cookies disappeared, along with a couple bowls of soup and a little pot of coffee for the drivers.  [No pictures, but you’ll see them soon on location for the wedding…]

Tim had decided after finishing the corn harvest on Tuesday that we should change our weekend travel plans.  I rearranged our overnight accommodations accordingly (and as cheaply as possible).  Tim & I would stay in town Friday night while the kids camped out on the floors at Uncle Larry’s.  Kate wanted to take some baked goods along to share with the family too ~ So her Friday included a batch of bread and some nutty apple muffins along with packing.  We left shortly before 3pm? 4pm and arrived about 9pm to check in to our ‘motel’ before taking the kids out to the farm to stay.  {I recall being frustrated with our boisterous back row which included the two boys… One of the kids called for a Quiet Contest at 7:16pm… the Cattleman was the first to give in about 70 seconds later ~ ha!}  I say ‘motel’ because it was more like a long distance neighbor’s spare room with a closet for a bathroom.  It was clean enough, so we were thankful for a place to sleep undisturbed… until 4:30am when some other guests must have been getting ready to go hunting (?) – What else would a couple chatty, cheerful men be doing at that time of day on a Saturday?!  :D  And the best part of the story is that this was the first occasion since our honeymoon {almost 19 years ago} that Tim & I have stayed in a motel/hotel without our kids!  Ha! 

Hmm, no pictures of the bakery goodies we picked up while in Thorp Saturday morning?  ;-)  The Cattleman and the Popper especially enjoyed living in the barn while at U.Larry’s  :D  and Aunt Cheryl said it helped her to relax on the Big Day to have them out there doing chores with her.  Praise the Lord for that!  I spent Saturday morning feeding whoever was in the house and then chasing them off to the church… Kate washed dishes, Miss Artist was nanny for Little Boy B, Tim helped out with the barn chores.

When we arrived at the church, I found some of the beloved young boys in a corner…  I suggested they get together for a picture ~ Look goofy!  What do you mean?

 

That will do!  :D

 

Little Boy B was good friends with our Miss Artist ~

My bigger boys with their Uncle Randy ~

And Pastor C with the fathers of the couple ~

And here are the sweet little girls all pretty in pink ~

~Baby E with her Aunt Neilia and Big Girl B ~

        

and our very own Popper ~

 

After a quick visit with Mrs. Photographer {an old friend from our years in Wisconsin}, I sat down to enjoy the wedding.  Oh, we were standing up for the entrance of the bride of course!

See the happy groom?!

 

The bride’s Uncle Neil preached… Pastor C led the exchange of vows (even if you can’t see him as they are laughing after Tim tripped over his words)…

    

Pastor S also had a good word or two for them…

And finally Pastor C announced them husband and wife ~ First kiss!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the reception ~ my Tim with his siblings and mom ~

 

The bride’s family ~

 

Uncle Lee kept a handle on Little Boy B while most of the cousins assembled with Grandma for a picture (missing two, plus Jeremy is hiding behind our Computer Geek) ~

 

 

It became almost a juggling act with little ones falling asleep or wishing they could…

  

         

Mom F has nine great-grandbabies!  So much fun when we all get together!  :D

 

Leaving the wedding, we traveled down to Tim’s mom’s for our stay Saturday night.  Listening to the pathetic Badger football game  :-\

Sunday we enjoyed a visit at Mom’s church and headed toward Iowa/home after lunch.  Listening to the Packers triumph over the Vikings!  Yay!  :D

 

You should have seen Luci after our arrival home ~ Happy, happy dog!  hee hee

Happy, happy me ~ Home Sweet Home!

and it’s even clean after I vacuumed again today! ;D

kitchen days {daze}

 

This week I’m coming to the quick conclusion that it is NOT a virtue to “not do anything by halves.”

Case in point…

It’s now Wednesday about 10am.  I have tortillas warming in the oven, rice and refried beans cooking on the stove, sauce and enchilada filling ready to combine in a dish, and dessert is ready to cut and serve.  {still lacking an official veggie – not sure if I’ll wash lettuce or what..}

Today is {Last Wednesday was} Tim’s birthday!  :D

 

And I expected him to be in the combine still today.  {But they finished last night – woot woot!}  So I volunteered to fix birthday dinner for all the field guys.  Tim chose enchiladas instead of lasagna.

Sooo yesterday, I baked two batches of bread {one was for my brother}, mixed up potato bun dough {because that’s what you do with leftover mashed potatoes}, cooked up something ‘easy’ for supper, cooked up the enchilada burger filling, and made tortillas {first time ever!}  Oh, and I took Kate to/from work – and rode in the combine for a couple miles while Mike’s bread rose a bit higher than necessary  ;-)

Of course I took pictures  : )  But I’ll hopefully snap a few more when the meal is actually ready to deliver.  {snap?  Do we still snap pictures with digital cameras?}

Stay tuned…

 

…. Much Later ….

So much for finishing this post while it was still Tim’s birthday!  8-)

But here are the promised photos…

Tortillas!

      

          

My method needs improvement, but they were still edible.  And Tim says less whole wheat flour. 

 

Filling and sauce for the enchiladas ~

  

        

 

Refried beans and Mexican rice (with some spicy peppers from the garden!)

  

 

For a meal that looked something like this:

 

And don’t forget dessert!  Symphony Tier Bars ~

 

 

 

While the potato buns have been baked and consumed without a photo op, here’s proof I did bake bread  ;-)

 

And even better looking and tasting was this cheese cake by Kate ~ Mississippi Mud!

                

 

She made the cheese cake last weekend before Tim’s birthday ~ The last sliver is still in the fridge along with the last piece of symphony tier bars!  Is there any such thing as too much chocolate?!

almost AWOL

I started a post last Wednesday, which was Tim's birthday.  And I hope to be able to finally finish it yet today... maybe? 

And it's time for another daybook post.

And maybe to tell about our recent weekend filled with driving and time with family.

Lots of pictures to download and sort.

But, for now the laundry is running with the third load in washer.  The bills are paid, the checkbooks reconciled/balanced.  And I caught up our computer records (accounting).   woot, woot!

Time for lunch!  Then I'd really like to hide out with a good book ;-)

But I haven't written out the school assignment sheets for this week yet... (They are still catching up on last week's list.)

~ ttfn ~

Homeschooling Resources Meme

 

Julie suggested I join the fun, so here goes…

{I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do this post without pictures though!}

 

1.  One homeschool book I have enjoyed:

This is difficult.  I had to go and look at my bookshelves, trying to put a finger on just one book to name.  :p   Sooo, let me say that Educating the Whole-Hearted Child by Clay & Sally Clarkson was one of my first favorites many years ago.  Then I loaned it to a young friend, from whence it never returned.  :-(

Another helpful book when I was getting started was Gayle Graham’s How to Homeschool: A Practical Approach.  But to be honest, I don’t look at it anymore; thus I couldn’t find it on a current shelf either.

 

2.  One resource I wouldn’t be without:

The Bible.  My husband.  (Yes, that’s two again, but they both flavor our homeschool.)

 

3.  One resource I wish I had never bought:

Hmmmm, just one?  Two books I bought that no one wanted to use:  God’s Design for Heaven and Earth: Our Weather and Water; and God’s Design for Life: The Human Body by the Lawrences.  (now available here, possibly revised?)  I couldn’t believe it.  Weather is such a cool thing to study!  But these are the original black and white books from 2003 which require the mom or student to find other more colorful resources to “take it further.”  And then we found the books by Jeannie Fulbright.  Which would you choose?

We had so much fun exploring the solar system instead  : )

Be careful how you read this item ~ the book pictured I am GLAD I bought!  :D

{The other two are available to anyone who wants them!}

 

4.  One resource I enjoyed last year:

Miss Autrey comes to mind first.  She was the speech instructor for our dvds from A Beka Academy.  She is just plain Awesome.

 

5.  One resource I will be using this year:

Inter-library loan.  So thankful for local librarian Laura! (yay for alliteration)  So sad that another librarian suggested the great books missing from their collection might have been stolen.

Essential with our TruthQuest History.

 

6.  One resource I would like to buy:

Chemistry 101 {for my not-so-science-loving girls} ~ New! at Timberdoodle

 

7.  One resource I wish existed:

Possibly a time machine to go back and enjoy those cozy days and nights of reading with my Littles… who are now all Bigs  :-(

The Cowgirl was still a baby when I read this gem aloud to the older three kids who were five and under…

 

8.  One homeschool catalog I enjoy reading:

{and ordering from} 

Oh yes, Rainbow Resource Center!    I remember a time when I needed to be certain about the copyright date of a book I wanted to purchase; and the sweet helpful girl on the phone took time to go out the warehouse, check the dates, and call me back ~ to be sure I’d get what I needed.  And they are just as friendly in person at the local homeschool conference.  :D

I’ve been very thankful for their detailed descriptions of books in their large-city-phonebook-sized catalog!

 

9.  One homeschool website I use regularly:

Amazon.com/books.  That counts, right?  :D  One item on my wishlist:

 

In the past we’ve made good use of Netflix for finding historical films. 

Or for our beloved TruthQuest History, there’s the yahoo group I used to frequent [before I entered the blog world] ~ HIStoryQuesters

 

10. Tag other homeschoolers.

Jodi ~ Granola Mom 4 God

Julie ~ Julie’s Thoughts

Gina ~ Home Joys

You can also read Julie’s post at Herding Grasshoppers.   And Q’s at Napalm in the Morning.

 

# # #

P.S.  Here’s a completely unrelated factoid:  I bought TWO bunches of bananas 24 hours ago.  There is ONE banana remaining on the kitchen counter. 

daybook catch-up 10/11/2011

 

Highlights of last week:  Sunday ~ helping to host the YAC after church.  Tuesday ~ major migraine in midst of trip to orthodontist & DOT for Kate (yay!)  So she drove herself to work the rest of the week.  Which is more news:  She got a job!  : )  Can you guess?  She’s been cooking panini at a little local restaurant.  Tomorrow she will hostess. Soon to waitress too.  Friday ~ lots of groceries, but no piano lessons.  Saturday ~ fast trip to the meat locker to pick up Mercedes, then working to fit it all into our freezers!  whew.

 

 

FOR TODAY  

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Happy Birthday to my brother Mike!

 

Outside my window...

it’s very dark at this hour

 

I am thinking…

“When you do stuff, stuff gets done.” ~ Thanks, JulieG!  :D

Sorta like this blog post.

Yep, deep and profound thoughts in my head tonight!  Moving on… 

 

I am thankful to God …

for good preaching again on Sunday ~

Christ liveth in me ~ from Galatians 2:20

Here is the answer to fear, dismay, weakness, helplessness, or discouragement:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Isaiah 41:10

 

I am praying for...

… Hiromi in Japan (near the Fukushima nuclear plant) 

... the Rettigs & the church in Prague ~ Praising the Lord for a new building!

… the sale of my mother-in-law’s home

… Cinnamon ~ her Marine son is in Afghanistan

… Amy W., a young wife/mom with cancer

… Sarita & Jeff received visas for their return to Israel ~ Praise the Lord!

… the A Family, on furlough from their field of ministry ~ Baby #6 arrived almost 2 weeks ago  : )

… Lea’s dad ~ in the midst of a serious health crisis

… H & A

… for direction for our church, for our family

… Laura

… and especially marriages ~ meant to last a lifetime

 

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

 

From the learning rooms...

Vikings, Alfred the Great ~ so sad to find much of the historical fiction is now missing from one of my local library’s collection. 

Birds, invertebrates, mechanical advantage, air pressure, human cells.

 

From the kitchen...

 

  

  

Today’s project:  27 quarts of pears

 

I am creating...

should be sewing?  making vitamin orders, coop order, Christmas lists.

 

I am going...

to bed ASAP, preferably before 9pm again (allergies or a cold is overwhelming me this week)

 

I am reading...

Isaiah and the Pauline Epistles ~ good stuff!

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

 

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves….  Do all things without murmurings and disputings…

Philippians 2:3, 14

 

I am hoping...  

that the books I requested through inter-library loan will come in … and soon!

 

I am hearing...

The Popper was reading aloud to me about birds from her science book.  Miss Artist was humming along with a song.  Now she is having a discussion with her brother about an English assignment.  And the Popper is reading a little more from her Bible quietly before bed, rocking in Tim’s recliner.

 

Around the house...

The ironing board has come to dwell in the living room. That should bother me, yes?

 

One of my favorite things...

    the treasures of autumn!

 

Pondering these words...

“A weak faith is always in a hurry; strong faith is patient.” ~ Dr. Bob preaching from Matthew 14:22-33

 

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Wednesday ~ chiropractor, evening church

Friday ~ piano lessons (groceries, shopping)

 

Here is a are a few pictures for thought...

   

    

Luci’s doghouse is a work in progress.

But this post is DONE!  :D  {in record time ~ G’night!}

 

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord,

that thou fulfil it.

Colossians 4:17

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

 

~ Find more Daybooks at Peggy's ~